Strange facts about early America

The battle of Bunker Hill was fought on Breeds Hill.The British won the battle.

The only person to sign the declaration of Independence on July 4th was John Hancock.The other delegates began signing it on August 2nd.

Only two future U.S. Presidents, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, signed the declaration of independence.Both Adams and Jefferson died on July 4th 1826, exactly 50 years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

President George Washington personally commanded Militia in the field to quell the Whiskey rebellion in 1794.

George Washington survived cases of Malaria, Smallpox, Tuberculosis, Dysentery, and Diphtheria in his lifetime.While President, he survived a bout with Pneumonia, the same disease that killed him nine years later.

During the revolutionary war, slaves were offered freedom for fighting on the British side.When the British withdrew, most of the “loyalist” slaves were taken back to England and given their freedom.Most Blacks in England are descendants of the loyalist slaves.

The first American War following independence was the Barberry Coast War fought against North African nations.It was mostly a naval war, but the U.S. Marines captured the city of Tripoli; an action that has been immortalized in the Marine Hymn, “to the shores of Tripoli.”

Colonists that remained loyal to the British were stripped of all their holdings including their homes and land.Many went west to start over as early pioneers.A large group settled in Canada. The English Colonies of Nova Scotia and Ontario were largely populated by American Refugees.In 1996, Canadian politicians sponsored the Godfrey-Milliken Bill, which would have entitled Loyalist descendants to reclaim ancestral property in the United States that was confiscated by the U.S. government during the American Revolution.